Beauty Detail
Lorna Luxe Brings This Hair Product To Dinner Parties Instead of Wine
The influencer shares the beauty staples she wouldn’t be without.
In Bustle’s Beauty Detail, we dive into the beauty bags of our favourite talents for intel on the rituals that keep them glowing and the MVPs (most valuable products) they can't live without. Here, fashion blogger Lorna Luxe talks about her collaborations with Philip Kingsley and Mac, along with the must-have beauty products she relies on most.
As an influencer Lorna Luxe is undoubtedly best known for her style, and one look at her Instagram page will show you why. Scroll through her thousands of posts and you’ll be inundated with outfit ideas thanks to the daily looks she shares, photographed in her home or out-and-about by her husband John.
It therefore may come as a bit of a surprise to fans and followers of Lorna Luxe (real name Lorna Andrews) that she’s now diving head-first into beauty. But Andrews’ long-term love for makeup and skincare makes this a natural transition. Her newest collaborations include a dreamy makeup kit from Mac, along with sell-out sets with hair maven Philip Kingsley; both of which have a more personal connection than your average brand link-up.
“The collaboration with Philip Kingsley came about so organically,” she explains. “When the first lockdown happened, I was using a lot of root touch-up spray as my hair was feeling really thin. I had a virtual appointment with a trichologist at the brand and she diagnosed me with androgenic alopecia on the spot, and helped me with everything I would need for it.”
Initially, it was something that Andrews was wary of discussing online with her 1.3 million followers, in a world where heavily-produced highlight reels, rather than unvarnished real life, are the order of business.
“I wasn’t going to talk about it as at first I was a bit conscious about it — especially in this game where everybody is very glossy and perfect,” she tells me. “But I wanted to take people on the journey with me. Plus, when I found out I had androgenic alopecia, I realised other people must obviously have it too; the more I started talking about it, the more others shared their stories. It was almost like a secret club at first.”
The kits were thoughtfully developed by Lorna herself, and feature products she has been using “since day one,” of her hair journey, post that game-changing trichologist appointment.
Next came her Mac collaboration, which she calls a “full circle” moment. She had been using the brand’s lipsticks since she was 21 years old, when she first started working as a member of a major airline’s flight crew. “As crew I had to wear Mac Lady Danger [a bright orangey-red], so I’ve always been a Mac lipstick girl,” she says, before explaining how she fell in love with the brand’s Powder Kiss formula that launched several years ago. This in turn led to her own kit, and the hero product is (you guessed it), a Powder Kiss lipstick in the shade Mull It Over.
She’s come a long way since her flight crew days, but Andrews still remembers the beauty tips, tricks, and hacks she learnt along the way, despite how different things were back then. “I did have the worst fake tan and makeup ever back then though,” she shares. “The beauty standards at the time were pretty shocking; I basically had to become an overnight beauty guru to learn how to do my makeup! You had to wear red lipstick, you had to have your hair in a bun, you had to have your nails either nude or red, you couldn’t show any tattoos, and you had to have clear skin. I even got weighed at my interview!”
These days, despite her love of fashion and continued work with brands like In The Style, beauty holds a special place in Andrews’ heart, and has impacted more than just her work. “I’ve had dips with my mental health in the past,” she explains. “I’ve had periods of OCD and spent much of my twenties suffering with an eating disorder, but having your sh*t together in terms of beauty routines and self care has been a game-changer for me.”
“Whenever I have bad thoughts these days, I try and channel the energy into my self-care habits like going for a shower, fake tanning or doing my nails. It really changes my mood,” she finishes.
Find out which products Lorna can’t live without in her habits and routines below.
Lorna’s Philip Kingsley kits will be back in stock online in July at philipkingsley.co.uk
The hair mask she recommends to everyone
“It’s just changed my hair texture and the way I manage my hair. It’s so much stronger now. I try and get people into it all the time, so now when I go to a party or dinner, I buy people that as a gift instead of a bottle of wine! I’m like ‘put that in your bathroom and thank me in three months.’”
Her new fave fake tan
“I love packaging, and so I’ve always used Tan Luxe as it looks so good with the sleek bottles, but I was sent this and oh my god, it lasts. My fake tan routine is every other day, as it goes patchy quickly, but this one only started to on like day five. You can also go straight to bed with it and it won’t ruin your sheets. Even on Instagram people keep asking me what tan I am using with this. I had a shoot lately in Portugal and it was next level because my skin was coming out so glowy!”
The vit C that changed the game
“I’d been for a couple of profhilo treatments, and every time I went they would say that I need to be using antioxidants. And I was like ‘I don’t do vit C sorry, it breaks me out.’ I was eventually sent this, and it didn’t break me out! I started using it everywhere, on my arms, making John [her husband] use it, putting it in my moisturiser; it’s the most beautiful product and if anybody hasn’t got on with other vitamin Cs, it’s worth trying this.”
The strengthening bond builder
“This is the best heat protection and it seals the ends of hair. I don’t know many women that don’t have split ends, and this will change your life.”
Her go-to CBD product
“I’ve never not had a spotty period until using this product. I use it morning and night religiously and I don’t get spots on my face now. The brand is still quite under the radar but it’s such good stuff. I really stock up on this!”
The only lipstick she uses
“This just reminds me of a time when I wasn’t the ‘all singing all dancing Lorna Luxe,’ I was just a bit of a chancer trying to make my way on Instagram, and I was invited to the launch of these lipsticks in Paris. It made me rediscover Mac and fall in love with the lipstick, which years later led to my kit! The formula’s amazing; there’s nothing else like it on the market. It’s got a massive sentimental value to me.”
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